Home Thoughts From Abroad

by Robert Browning

Oh, to be in England now that April's there,

And whoever wakes in England sees, some morning, unaware,

That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf

Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,

While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough

In England - now!

And after April, when May follows

And the white-throat builds, and all the swallows!

Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge

Leans to the field and scatters on the clover

Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent spray's edge

That's the wise thrush: he sings each song twice over

Lest you should think he never could recapture

The first fine careless rapture!

And, tho' the fields look rough with hoary dew,

All will be gay when noontide wakes anew

The buttercups, the little children's dower

- Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

啊，但愿此刻身在英格兰，趁这四月天，

一个早晨醒来，谁都会突然发观：

榆树四周低矮的枝条和灌木丛中，

小小的嫩叶已显出一片葱茏，

听那苍头燕雀正在果园里唱歌，

在英格兰啊，在此刻!

四月过去，五月接踵来到，

燕子都在衔泥,白喉鸟在筑巢!

我园中倚向篱笆外的梨树

把如雨的花瓣和露珠 

洒满了树枝之下的苜蓿田；

聪明的鸫鸟在那儿唱，把每支歌都唱两遍，

为了免得你猜想：它不可能重新捕捉

第一遍即兴唱出的美妙欢乐!

尽管露水笼罩得田野灰白暗淡，

到中午一切又将喜气盎然，

苏醒的毛茛花是孩子们的“嫁妆”，

这华而俗的甜瓜花哪儿比得上它灿烂明亮!